Recovery

Chapter 5

A/N

So no one guessed right- what she did wrong was taking off the gauze to put on a new piece. You never take off the initial gauze because it can tear out clots and make the bleeding worse!

Anyways, on with the story

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"Pass me the cream," I request. She meekly does as I ask before going back to stirring the pasta.

I finish adding all the ingredients with the cream sauce and smile.

"Just have to wait for the pasta to cook and we'll have dinner," I announce.

My parents still aren't home, so I don't bother setting the table for four. Maybe I would have if they ever bothered to let me know when they'd be home. But of course not.

Just the same I guess. It's probably better since I haven't told them yet that Chey is staying for a while. Not that they'll care since they have bucket loads of money and won't really be affected by the extra mouth to feed.

That's my parents for you.

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4 Days Later

"Chey- Chey, wake up," I urge. She's fallen asleep on the couch after another long day of skipping school.

To be fair, we stayed for the first 4 periods. But then we got bored and decided to go home and watch Greys Anatomy reruns.

And that was when my lovely companion fell asleep.

"Why?" she mumbles, rolling her face into the couch.

I frown and start to think. Why am I waking her up.

"I'm bored," I sigh, sitting down on the edge of the couch.

"Go watch TV- or go on a walk. I don't care, just let me sleep," she groans.

"Fine- you know what, I will go on a walk," I huff, though I'm not really mad. Just bored.

I call for Wally, my long haired dachshund-terrier mix and clip his leash on.

He wags his tail excitedly, eager to go outside. Lately, I've been paying less attention to him than usual, and therefore he's been getting less exercise.

I exit the house and lead him towards the forest that surrounds our neighborhood. There's a trail there that you would never know existed if you weren't looking specifically for it.

I found it when I was younger, maybe eight, and Chey and I went exploring with Wally. We were pretending we were princesses and Wally was our dragon (yes, we were a bit strange) and we were going to fight a troll who lived in the dark forest. We stumbled along the trail and have been going there ever since

I've only seen two other people there the entire time I've been walking it, so it's a good place to go to think.

"Come on Wally," I call, clucking to him.

Within five minutes or so we are at the start of the trail. It's actually a shame that no one knows where it is- it's a paved trail, and it's absolutely breathtaking. The trees canopies over the path letting in the perfect amount of sunlight.

I think at one point the community must have started to build it but gave up and never finished, which is why at a certain point the pavement morphs into a dirt path.

We walk for a bit before I hear something- like a rattling. I ignore it and start to walk again, but the rattling gets louder.

And that's when I see it. No more than four feet away from me, off to the side is a rattlesnake, coiled up at the base of a tree.